Africa should come together as one market and move quickly to seize the opportunities created by China’s expanding high-level opening-up, Erastus Mwencha, former deputy chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission, has said. In a recent interview, Mwencha, also a member of the Advisory Council of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, said that with protectionism rising and multilateral trade adrift, the continent’s best path lies in integration — and in deeper cooperation with a China that is opening its market wider.
Tracing African integration back to the founding of the Organization of African Unity in 1963, Mwencha said the task remains unfinished more than six decades on.
“What the colonial administration left us were pseudo-economies — sub-optimal, very small in population, although rich in resources,” he said. “Africa has no choice. The best foot forward for Africa is to come together.” A combined market of more than 1.4 billion people, he said, would allow the continent to pursue development paths that have worked elsewhere, from China to India and Brazil. “As it is, 55 economies, very small, Africa is struggling. We need to come together to bring about pan-Africanism.”
The urgency, Mwencha argued, is compounded by rising protectionism and what he called a “leadership deficit” in multilateral trade.
“The greatest tragedy we have today is that even those countries which sat down in 1944 and 1945 to establish the GATT, now the WTO, are running away from it,” he said, pointing to the United States’ turn toward sanctions and unilateralism across successive administrations. Against that backdrop, he said, “it is instructive to see that China has stepped up to the plate and opened its market, by offering 53 countries in Africa duty-free, quota-free access. This is something by all means to be praised.”
China’s zero-tariff treatment covering 100 percent of tariff lines for the 53 African countries having diplomatic relations with Beijing took effect on May of 2026. “Given the global environment that we live in, it is an opportunity that should be seized quickly,” Mwencha said. “China is a huge market — over 1.4 billion people, a growing consumer base, a GDP of over 140 trillion yuan. It can’t get better than that. But then, one must prepare and move in.” The trust underpinning that opportunity, he said, was built over decades. He recalled the construction of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway, or TAZARA, in the 1970s: “When China was assisting Tanzania and Zambia to build that railway, China was itself a very poor country. But look at the sacrifice China made.”
He also pushed back against narratives portraying China-Africa engagement as a grab for resources and markets. “I always remind people: go back to history and see the consistency with which China has worked with Africa,” he said. “We should have no fear walking hand in hand for a future of shared prosperity.”
In a related development, analysts have noted that Africa must strengthen strategic cooperation, especially with countries like China, to unlock investment in infrastructure, digital technology and access to new markets. Onyango K’Onyango, a Kenyan expert on China-Africa relations, stressed that the continent urgently requires large-scale investment across transport networks, power systems, digital technology, manufacturing, and human capital.
“These needs cannot be met through domestic resources alone. Africa, therefore, needs international partnerships that provide capital, technology, markets and expertise while supporting its own development priorities,” he observed.
K’Onyango argued that China’s pragmatic approach drives meaningful economic cooperation in Africa, noting that the Asian nation’s funded infrastructure projects have boosted regional connectivity and expanded trade opportunities across the continent.
“Railways, highways, ports and energy facilities are not merely physical structures; they are reducing the cost of moving goods, connecting producers to markets and strengthening regional economic integration,” he said.
K’Onyango highlighted China’s role as a major manufacturing hub and market, offering Africa key opportunities to diversify exports, attract job-creating investment, and shift away from simply exporting raw materials.
Lee Kinyanjui, the cabinet secretary for investment, trade and industry, noted that China’s zero-duty policy will unlock vast potential for Kenyan exporters, particularly in agriculture, and help diversify the export basket.
Kinyanjui said in a recent statement that China’s rapid industrialization, infrastructure growth, and tech advancement offer valuable lessons for African countries to adapt locally.
International relations scholar Macharia Munene noted in a recent commentary that Africa must prioritize equitable trade, technology transfer, and local industrial capacity-building.
Highlighting this trend, the Kenyan expert said at least 10 African countries signed on during the formation of the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization (WAICO) in Shanghai in July.
“WAICO fills an important gap by prioritizing Global South needs, which include development, capacity building and equitable access over restrictive models advanced by other economies,” international relations scholar Cavince Adhere said in a commentary for Kenya’s Daily Nation.
“China is today one of the biggest sources of foreign direct investment in Africa. Chinese companies operating in Africa have contributed about 20 percent to Africa’s development in the last decade. And beyond this, we must also talk about people-to-people ties seen through increased interactions between Africans in China and the Chinese in Africa,” he added.
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